


under the fairy lights

by triggeringthehealing (froggydarren)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Adopted Children, Established Relationship, M/M, Mates, Mating Bond, Parenthood, Pillow & Blanket Forts, winter holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-20 04:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17015532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggydarren/pseuds/triggeringthehealing
Summary: Derek still can't really believe that he gets to spend his life with Stiles. That he gets to wear the mating mark on his hand. That they got to adopt two kids together and are raising them as their own.For all the pain that memories of winter holidays sometimes bring, this year, he's excited for the celebrations.





	under the fairy lights

**Author's Note:**

> A gift for [mysticrebelwerewolf](https://mysticrebelwerewolf.tumblr.com) in the [Sterek Secret Santa](http://stereksecretsanta.tumblr.com) exchange!

Derek has known about mates for a long time. Ever since he asked his mother about the mark on her wrist, the sign of bonding that she explained as a wound that she wouldn't allow to heal. Werewolves could, under the right circumstances, keep some scars, but most chose not to. The mating one was a notable exception, a mark made by their partner and preserved on their skin, regardless of shifts and healing. 

Derek now has one of those too. A small scratch on the back of his hand made a few years earlier with a nail, a curve carved into his skin with a shaky hand. 

Stiles didn't want to make the mark at first. He didn't want to, as he said, contribute to the damage that Derek already went through. He'd only relented when Derek explained the whole belief in mates and how much it would mean to him to have that reminder of what they are and what they have. 

He still looks at the mark a few times a day with a soft smile, still can't quite believe that he gets to have this, gets to spend the rest of his life with the one person whom he was drawn to way before he understood what it meant. He gets to be with Stiles. 

Through the years, their relationship has only become stronger and even more so once they ended up making one of the biggest decisions of their lives. A few months ago, they signed all the right paperwork, finished the set up of two new rooms in their house -- one similar to the one that Derek grew up in, but closer to town and, more importantly, _safer_  -- and drove to San Francisco to pick up the most precious packages they ever received. 

The bigger one, aged five, is Zachary, the child of a werewolf couple who got caught in the crossfire of the ongoing war between the supernatural and hunters. They're all doing their best to put a stop to it, but the brainwashing from Gerard's horde continues to throw aftershocks. Every once in a while, less and less frequently, a hunter buys into the old speeches that continue circulating, and the result is this -- children left without their parents, without a home. 

It was Scott who was approached about it first, but he's got his hands full being the Alpha of Beacon Hills and couldn't volunteer. He did, however, talk to Stiles and Derek. It took two photos and one trip to the city to see Zachary before their minds were made up. Only, little Zach wasn't alone. He came as a package deal along with his baby sister Natalia. 

"Oh my god," Stiles whispered when he heard the name. "Derek..."

"Yeah," Derek breathed out, having almost missed the rest of the little girl's name, his brain focused on the part that had been his mother's name. "Yeah. Yes."

"What are you saying yes to?" Stiles asked cautiously, like he was trying not to let himself hope. 

"Both of them. We'll bring both of them, if we can," Derek explained and looked at the room where baby Nat was happily bouncing on one of the kiddie chairs, rockers, whatever and Zach was knocking building blocks together. 

The next few months were a steep learning curve. Sure, they both already had some experience with kids, but this would be the first time that they couldn't hand a child back at the end of the day. Even so, on Natalia's first birthday, they signed the paperwork that made both her and her brother a Stilinski-Hale, and Derek drove more carefully than he ever had in his life until they reached their home, the children's new and permanent one. 

It's been a whirlwind ever since then. Derek still pinches his arm sometimes when he drives home, reminding himself that this all is not a dream. He counts his fingers over and over until his mind stops spinning and his old ghosts disappear. Usually, it's not until he pulls up at the house and sees Stiles's car in front of it, until he walks up the porch steps and opens the door with his own key, that his anxiety settles. It's still hard to believe even when he puts his hand on the doorframe and feels it solid under his fingers, but he does believe it now. A few years ago, he would have been running away already, assuming that someone was trying to lure him into a trap.

Today, he's home later than usual. Stiles stayed home with the kids while Derek went off getting all their Christmas presents. They'd already found the tree -- out in the woods there's a small patch of pines that Derek's family had planted so they could always have a fresh tree for the holidays -- and they made the trip, kids strapped to their chests, to get one of their own. Their first holiday tree as a full family. Derek smiles just thinking about it and he takes a deep breath to take in the scent from the tree and the house. 

"We're in the living room," he hears Stiles call out, then Zach's quiet mutter about not giving away that he alerted Stiles to Derek's arrival. 

Derek's proud of the boy. He's only five, but he's getting the hang of his advanced senses fast, getting more comfortable with using them but also with turning them off when needed. They've been practicing a lot lately and Derek grins with pride at how well it's working. From the direction of the living room, he can hear Nat's muffled giggles and Stiles shushing her, so he follows the sound.

"What." 

He's in the doorway to the room when he stops in his tracks and stares at the scene that he walked into. The tree is there, in the corner of the room, as bare as when he left the house that morning. That's not surprising, since they agreed that they'd decorate it together, at Zach's insistence. But what Derek _was_ expecting was a pile of boxes with decorations -- some that Stiles brought from his father's house, some that are new and theirs. Stiles and the kids were supposed to have them all ready to start decorating for when Derek came back home. 

Instead, all the can see is the fairy lights -- not _real_  fairies, though he knows that they don't look all that different -- that are already lit up and glowing in the room. The blinds are drawn, so the living room is darker than it normally would be at this time of the day, and the shadows make the lights stand out all the more. They're strung up in the shape of a tent in the middle of the room, over blankets that form a small fort. Inside, Stiles is lying on his back and ticking Nat, who's on his stomach. Zach, meanwhile, is lying next to Stiles and staring up at the lights. 

They all look at Derek when he speaks and at least Stiles has the decency to blush and look apologetic.

"I thought you were supposed to untangle the lights," Derek says, walking over. "Not make a blanket fort and use them for that. What are we going to put on the tree now?"

It's a sturdy construction, he can see that -- the top is attached to the ceiling with a string, chairs on the sides are creating a tent effect -- and there are more lights on the inside of the fort. 

"To be fair, it was the kids' idea," Stiles mutters but his heart skips with the lie.

"Yeah, sure, Dad, blame the five year old," Zach comments and looks back up at the lights. "They're pretty."

Derek, holding back a chuckle as Stiles's face turns into a scandalized expression at Zach's words, crouches outside the fort and looks up at the lights.

"They are pretty," he says. 

Then his mind registers the full extent of Zach's words. 

 _Dad_. That's what he called Stiles. 

Since they met them for the first time, even Nat -- with senses not as developed yet as her brother's -- seemed to understand that they weren't their biological parents. Zach saying "Dad" was huge. When Derek looks over at Stiles, he knows that he's not the only one who noticed. 

"Papa, papa, in!" Nat calls out then. 

Derek's heart flutters and he blinks a time or two to get the tears that are emerging under control. He slips inside the fort and lies down, Zach and Nat between him and Stiles. They all look up at the fairy lights and Nat reaches for Derek's and Zach's hand. Derek glances over and sees that Stiles is holding Zach's other hand. For a beat, Derek keeps looking at his husband and mate, then at their children between them. When Stiles glances over too, he mirrors Derek's smile. 

"So, what are we going to do about the lights for the tree?" Derek asks when the silence has stretched long enough. "Because I have a feeling that these will not go on it."

"I guess we'll just have to get more," Stiles tells him, no longer apologetic. "How do you feel about going back out into the wilderness that is the town and getting some?"

Derek groans and shakes his head.

"Not today," he says. 

Today, his plan is to stay here, look at the lights above their heads, and spend time with his family. Who knows, maybe he'll even get to be called _Papa_  again. 


End file.
